Dear readers,
I've made the jump to WordPress. This blog can now be found at:
http://www.sandragulland.com/author/notes-on-the-writing-life/
I hope you follow me there!
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Saturday, January 15, 2011
On first being published: pimples at 50 and other salient details from my memory files
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I continue to dig through the layers on my computer. This is like an archaeological dig.
Here's a snip from a letter to my writer's group, written on Thursday, Dec. 22nd of the year I turned 50, so 1994:
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I continue to dig through the layers on my computer. This is like an archaeological dig.
Here's a snip from a letter to my writer's group, written on Thursday, Dec. 22nd of the year I turned 50, so 1994:
I saw my book mentioned in Quill & Quire (the publishers' and librarians' rag) yesterday: so it's true, it's really going to happen. I'm starting to get little notes from here and there, from friends and acquaintances: congrats. That's nice. God, there might even be reviews, interviews. What then?!! The first step my anxiety has taken is to examine my nails, my teeth and my hair. Can I be seen in public? Why, at age 50, do I have pimples? What justice is there in the world?
TMI! I promise that the next bits I share here will have nothing to do with facial blemishes.
*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Digging into the compost
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Today I took on updating very old Word files on my computer before they became unrecognizable. In the process, I filed each one away, which meant glancing over it first. Then, of course, I got caught up in the web of my own history, finding short stories I'd written years and years ago, letters and diaries.
I've a few to share, but this one comes up first, a bit from a letter (well actually, a fax) written to my publisher in 1995. I'd been thrilled to get my first book—The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B.—but I was a little disconcerted, to say the least, to discover that the first 25 pages was missing from the first copy I took out of the box.
I called my wonderful editor, Iris Tupholme, who told me, with her usual great good humor:
Now, of course, I wish I'd kept that first flawed book. Other, non-flawed copies from this first print run can be found on the Net selling anywhere from $50 to $250, signed.
(The image at left is that of a bookseller offering it for $200 U.S. I can't make out what the writing on the right is about.)
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Today I took on updating very old Word files on my computer before they became unrecognizable. In the process, I filed each one away, which meant glancing over it first. Then, of course, I got caught up in the web of my own history, finding short stories I'd written years and years ago, letters and diaries.
I've a few to share, but this one comes up first, a bit from a letter (well actually, a fax) written to my publisher in 1995. I'd been thrilled to get my first book—The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B.—but I was a little disconcerted, to say the least, to discover that the first 25 pages was missing from the first copy I took out of the box.
I called my wonderful editor, Iris Tupholme, who told me, with her usual great good humor:
"It is a universal law of publishing that the one flawed book in the print run is sent directly to the author."Unfortunately, there were more than a few flawed books in the run that year. My poor publisher! Here's from the fax I wrote on July 10, 1995, listing the problems I'd encountered:
the first signature missing (I've seen this twice, once in a bookstore)
glue spilling out the spine onto the pages
end-papers mucked up at the headband
holes through the inside pages (as if the pages had been closed over a bolt or something)
torn inside lining paper
ink smears inside
title on case upside-down
fabric on case torn
fabric on case wrinkled
first (blank) page glued to the inside cover
multiple covers on book (I don't consider this a problem)This was, I learned in the years since, highly unusual. No doubt that printer was quickly dropped, but these things can (and do) happen. Publishing is manufacturing, with all the problems that can go with it.
(The image at left is that of a bookseller offering it for $200 U.S. I can't make out what the writing on the right is about.)
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Jane Austen comic: LEAVE ME ALONE!
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I love this. The amazing thing is that Jane Austen was rarely if ever alone. How did she do it?!
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I love this. The amazing thing is that Jane Austen was rarely if ever alone. How did she do it?!
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
A Writer's Resolutions
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New Year is coming and each member of our family 1) reviews and "grades" each of last year's resolutions, and 2) makes resolutions for the coming year. Last year my top resolution was to finish drafts 2 and 3 of The Next Novel in 2010, "without going crazy."
So: how did I do?
I'm still working on draft 3, and I did go a little bit crazy this summer (that is: anxious, overwhelmed, insecure), so I'll likely give myself a C+, or maybe a B-, because, after all, I worked hard.
I aim to finish the novel next year ... but in truth, that's hard to imagine, so I think I'll revise my resolution to "finish drafts 3 and 4." That's safer because there could well be 6 drafts.
Perhaps I won't even say anything about crazy, because that's just part of the process.
Writing a novel is a glacial process, and, as with glaciers, there is a lot unseen under the water.
[Image: Fire Down on The Labrador, 1980, by David Blackwood. Awesome, isn't it?]
_____
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
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So: how did I do?
I'm still working on draft 3, and I did go a little bit crazy this summer (that is: anxious, overwhelmed, insecure), so I'll likely give myself a C+, or maybe a B-, because, after all, I worked hard.
I aim to finish the novel next year ... but in truth, that's hard to imagine, so I think I'll revise my resolution to "finish drafts 3 and 4." That's safer because there could well be 6 drafts.
Perhaps I won't even say anything about crazy, because that's just part of the process.
Writing a novel is a glacial process, and, as with glaciers, there is a lot unseen under the water.
[Image: Fire Down on The Labrador, 1980, by David Blackwood. Awesome, isn't it?]
_____
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
A book I recommend for any writer
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I'm almost always reading at least one book about writing. (Right now I'm dipping into three.) Recently I read The Forest for the Trees by N.Y. agent Betsy Lerner, and I immediately wanted to send it on to people I knew who were seriously writing, especially those who had yet to publish. This is a very good book to prepare a writer for the world of publishing. It is also a very good book for a published writer. I learned quite a bit from it, and I've been in the publishing world for decades.
Here are some of the quotes I highlighted:
I could go on and on, but I'll end with one more:
(Betsy Lerner also has a wonderful website and blog.)
Happy Holidays, all!
♥♥♥
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
I'm almost always reading at least one book about writing. (Right now I'm dipping into three.) Recently I read The Forest for the Trees by N.Y. agent Betsy Lerner, and I immediately wanted to send it on to people I knew who were seriously writing, especially those who had yet to publish. This is a very good book to prepare a writer for the world of publishing. It is also a very good book for a published writer. I learned quite a bit from it, and I've been in the publishing world for decades.
Here are some of the quotes I highlighted:
It wasn’t until I began working with writers that I understood Truman Capote’s brilliant assessment of the writer’s dilemma: “When God hands you a gift, he also hands you a whip.”
There is no stage of the writing process that doesn’t challenge every aspect of a writer’s personality.
I promise not to repeat the most common piece of writing advice: Write what you know. As far as I’m concerned, writers have very little choice in what they write.I like that especially.
For most writers, writing is a love-hate affair.Sigh...
People who try to figure out what’s hot and recreate it are as close to delusional as you can get.Exactly.
There comes a time when you have to let go of the New Yorker fantasy in service of just getting on with it.You mean I'm not the only one who had delusions of being published in the New Yorker?
The ambivalent writer confuses procrastination with research.Ouch!
Writing demands that you keep at bay the demons insisting that you are not worthy or that your ideas are ridiculous or that your command of the language is insufficient.This is not always easy to do.
I could go on and on, but I'll end with one more:
...the degree of one’s perseverance is the best predictor of success.No truer words.
(Betsy Lerner also has a wonderful website and blog.)
Happy Holidays, all!
♥♥♥
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
Monday, December 20, 2010
My best reads of 2010
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Reading is perhaps one of the most important things in a writer's life. I've had a very good year; my reading life has been rich and inspiring. Here are the books that simply enthralled me (in no particular order):
In fiction:
Happy holidays, all!
♥♥♥
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
Reading is perhaps one of the most important things in a writer's life. I've had a very good year; my reading life has been rich and inspiring. Here are the books that simply enthralled me (in no particular order):
In fiction:
The Rehearsal, by Eleanor Catton
Tinkers, by Paul Harding
The Blind Contessa's New Machine, by Carey Wallace
The Little Stranger, by Sarah Waters
Curiosity, by Joan Thomas
Father of the Rain, by Lily King
Room, by Emma Donoghue
Blonde, by Joyce Carol Oates.
November 22, 1968, by Adam Braver
Out Stealing Horses, by Per Petterson
Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout
The Color of Lightning, by Paulette Jiles
Evening, by Susan Minot
Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel
A Reliable Wife, by Robert GoolrickIn non-fiction:
Lives like Loaded Guns, the story of Emily Dickinson and her family, by Lyndall Gordon
The Death of Donna Whalen, by Michael Winter — I know, this is usually called "fiction"
A Week at the Airport, by Alain De BottonThe mood, the beauty of the prose, the compelling insights: every single one of these books still linger with me. If my reading life is even half as good in 2011, I will consider myself lucky.
Happy holidays, all!
♥♥♥
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
Monday, December 13, 2010
Give enchantment this holiday season: give a book
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I've recently joined a FaceBook group of 48 authors of distinguished, award-winning, and best-selling fiction. (Yes, I'm proud to be included.)
Because of the crisis in book publishing, we've banded together to urge readers to give a book to someone this holiday season.
Our motto: You can't give more enchantment for less.
Indeed! Consider these:
Dracula in Love by Karen Essex. "...the writing is so vivid, lusciously sexy and chillingly outrageous by turns..." - The Star Ledger http://tinyurl.com/2eyohd4
The Last Will of Moira Leahy by Therese Walsh. "This tender tale of sisterhood, self-discovery, and forgiveness will captivate fans of contemporary women’s fiction.”- Library Journal http://theresewalsh.com/books.html
The Murderer's Daughters by Randy Susan Meyers. "A powerful portrait of sisters growing up in the shadow of violence . . . A thought-provoking, heart-tugging debut." Boston Magazine http://tinyurl.com/264efbn
Every day we'll be posting three book suggestions. I'll sometimes be posting them here, sometimes in other forums.
Usually Santa gives each of our children a hardcover book for Christmas (nice guy, eh?), but this year our son has converted to Kindle. What to do? I've discovered Santa can give him a Kindle book as a gift (and it will be good on his iPad, too, through the free Kindle app).
Buy a book! Now!
*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
.
I've recently joined a FaceBook group of 48 authors of distinguished, award-winning, and best-selling fiction. (Yes, I'm proud to be included.)
Because of the crisis in book publishing, we've banded together to urge readers to give a book to someone this holiday season.
Our motto: You can't give more enchantment for less.
Indeed! Consider these:
Dracula in Love by Karen Essex. "...the writing is so vivid, lusciously sexy and chillingly outrageous by turns..." - The Star Ledger http://tinyurl.com/2eyohd4
The Last Will of Moira Leahy by Therese Walsh. "This tender tale of sisterhood, self-discovery, and forgiveness will captivate fans of contemporary women’s fiction.”- Library Journal http://theresewalsh.com/books.html
The Murderer's Daughters by Randy Susan Meyers. "A powerful portrait of sisters growing up in the shadow of violence . . . A thought-provoking, heart-tugging debut." Boston Magazine http://tinyurl.com/264efbn
Every day we'll be posting three book suggestions. I'll sometimes be posting them here, sometimes in other forums.
Usually Santa gives each of our children a hardcover book for Christmas (nice guy, eh?), but this year our son has converted to Kindle. What to do? I've discovered Santa can give him a Kindle book as a gift (and it will be good on his iPad, too, through the free Kindle app).
Buy a book! Now!
*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Click, click, click! Where ideas come from ...
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My son Chet sent me the link to this video on creativity, which pulled lots of thoughts I'm having right now into place.
The importance of connectivity
A post I wrote on a blog about searching for information on the Theatre of the Marais in 17th century Paris was happened upon by John Golder, a scholar in 17th century French theatre. He himself had been surfing the Net for information about the Theatre of the Marais. He read my blog and contacted me through my website. "Can I help?" Magic words!
Since then I've been on a very steep creative and learning curve, thanks to John ... and thanks to this thing called connectivity. Had I not put my questions out there, had I not made myself available, I would not have learned what I'm learning today.
The importance of desperately seeking
Last spring, in Ottawa, at the Writers' Union AGM, I had lunch with novelist Frances Itani. I said: "You know how when you're writing a novel, the answers just fall into your lap?" She knew exactly what I meant. There is something desperately seeking about the process of writing a novel: Seek and ye shall find.
In the early drafts of my novel, my character makes reference, at the end, to the writer Madame de Villedieu. But that was the only mention, and I wondered about that.
Now, in the midst of my third draft, my character's mother has just joined the Hôtel de Bourgogne, another theatre company, and I needed to know what play this company was about to produce. After some time yesterday I found the name of the play, and after more time yet I finally found the author of the tragedy: Madame de Villedieu.
Bonanza!
It could be said that this morning's work researching Villedieu—instead of writing—was a wasted day, but I don't think so. One thing I learned was that Villedieu was not only an originator of historical novels, but that she worked openly, communicating with her readers and the salons of the day...which comes around to the subject of this post: the importance of connectivity. The video mentions the Paris salons bringing about innovation because of the connectivity encouraged there.
Click, click, click!
Madame de Villedieu is apt only to have a walk-on part in the novel I'm writing now, but I'm tucking her away for the future. For a long time, I've been wanting to write a novel about La Grande Mademoiselle, the King's cousin—trying to write, I should say, for I've hundreds of pages in a drawer—but I could never seem to find the right key, the way into her story. It's possible that Villedieu, who dedicated a play and a novel to this eccentric feminist, might just be that key.
*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
.
My son Chet sent me the link to this video on creativity, which pulled lots of thoughts I'm having right now into place.
The importance of connectivity
A post I wrote on a blog about searching for information on the Theatre of the Marais in 17th century Paris was happened upon by John Golder, a scholar in 17th century French theatre. He himself had been surfing the Net for information about the Theatre of the Marais. He read my blog and contacted me through my website. "Can I help?" Magic words!
Since then I've been on a very steep creative and learning curve, thanks to John ... and thanks to this thing called connectivity. Had I not put my questions out there, had I not made myself available, I would not have learned what I'm learning today.
The importance of desperately seeking
Last spring, in Ottawa, at the Writers' Union AGM, I had lunch with novelist Frances Itani. I said: "You know how when you're writing a novel, the answers just fall into your lap?" She knew exactly what I meant. There is something desperately seeking about the process of writing a novel: Seek and ye shall find.
In the early drafts of my novel, my character makes reference, at the end, to the writer Madame de Villedieu. But that was the only mention, and I wondered about that.
Now, in the midst of my third draft, my character's mother has just joined the Hôtel de Bourgogne, another theatre company, and I needed to know what play this company was about to produce. After some time yesterday I found the name of the play, and after more time yet I finally found the author of the tragedy: Madame de Villedieu.
Bonanza!
It could be said that this morning's work researching Villedieu—instead of writing—was a wasted day, but I don't think so. One thing I learned was that Villedieu was not only an originator of historical novels, but that she worked openly, communicating with her readers and the salons of the day...which comes around to the subject of this post: the importance of connectivity. The video mentions the Paris salons bringing about innovation because of the connectivity encouraged there.
Click, click, click!
Madame de Villedieu is apt only to have a walk-on part in the novel I'm writing now, but I'm tucking her away for the future. For a long time, I've been wanting to write a novel about La Grande Mademoiselle, the King's cousin—trying to write, I should say, for I've hundreds of pages in a drawer—but I could never seem to find the right key, the way into her story. It's possible that Villedieu, who dedicated a play and a novel to this eccentric feminist, might just be that key.
*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
The first step to writing is ...
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Too true: the first step to writing is reading.
*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
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Too true: the first step to writing is reading.
*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Story Structure Circus Tent
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I've been reading Alexandra Sokoloff and other writers on story structure. There's something not quite right about my draft, and I'm trying to figure out what's amiss. (I suspect it's the Antagonist, who keeps changing.)
In my search, I came across this visual, which I quite like:
Be sure to click on the blog to read the details. This "beat sheet" from from StoryFix.com helps, as well. The terms are slightly different from those that Sokoloff and others use, but the concept is the same.
*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
I've been reading Alexandra Sokoloff and other writers on story structure. There's something not quite right about my draft, and I'm trying to figure out what's amiss. (I suspect it's the Antagonist, who keeps changing.)
In my search, I came across this visual, which I quite like:
*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Blogs and Slogs
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When I'm in writing mode (as opposed to research mode), I get hungry for books and articles on writing. I've lately been reading the blog posts of Alexandra Sokoloff; Screenwriting Tricks for Authors (which I just posted to my Links page above).
Sokoloff has a background in theatre and screenwriting, which gives her a strong feeling for plot and setting. I like her essays: they send sparks flying, which is what it's all about.
A note on reading
I've given up on Franzen's novel Freedom: I find it a slog, lacking heart. Does Franzen care about his characters? I don't think so. The author perspective seems so condescending. It feels like he's dissecting them. I'm disturbed by the raves this novel has received. Is heartlessness in vogue? I'm in agreement with this review in the Globe and Mail: "absolute banality."
(photo by mikebaird)
A note on iPad reading
Instapaper allows me to tag interesting blog posts and website finds to be "read later," which I can do now in comfort on my iPad. When reading the blog on my iPad, if I see a passage I like, something I want to remember, I'm able to highlight it and email it to myself as something to follow up on. If it's something to do with research, I email it to my EverNote database. If it's a quote on writing I like, I send it directly to my Tumblr blog.
If it's a PDF I'm reading—an academic article, for example—I find iAnnotate the best iPad app because I can send highlighted passages (as well as the marked-up article, should I wish) to my EverNote database.
I love Kindle reading for the same reason: my highlights are available on-line (with some fiddling: see "Research Tools" on my research blog). These can then be copied and put into a searchable database.
Could I live without my iPad: I don't think so!
Sandra Gulland
*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
When I'm in writing mode (as opposed to research mode), I get hungry for books and articles on writing. I've lately been reading the blog posts of Alexandra Sokoloff; Screenwriting Tricks for Authors (which I just posted to my Links page above).
Sokoloff has a background in theatre and screenwriting, which gives her a strong feeling for plot and setting. I like her essays: they send sparks flying, which is what it's all about.
A note on reading
I've given up on Franzen's novel Freedom: I find it a slog, lacking heart. Does Franzen care about his characters? I don't think so. The author perspective seems so condescending. It feels like he's dissecting them. I'm disturbed by the raves this novel has received. Is heartlessness in vogue? I'm in agreement with this review in the Globe and Mail: "absolute banality."
(photo by mikebaird)
A note on iPad reading
Instapaper allows me to tag interesting blog posts and website finds to be "read later," which I can do now in comfort on my iPad. When reading the blog on my iPad, if I see a passage I like, something I want to remember, I'm able to highlight it and email it to myself as something to follow up on. If it's something to do with research, I email it to my EverNote database. If it's a quote on writing I like, I send it directly to my Tumblr blog.
If it's a PDF I'm reading—an academic article, for example—I find iAnnotate the best iPad app because I can send highlighted passages (as well as the marked-up article, should I wish) to my EverNote database.
I love Kindle reading for the same reason: my highlights are available on-line (with some fiddling: see "Research Tools" on my research blog). These can then be copied and put into a searchable database.
Could I live without my iPad: I don't think so!
Sandra Gulland
*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Warning: a big change coming
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.
I'm in the process of having all of my website and blogs changed over from Blogger to WordPress. I've been frustrated by Blogger for too long. The formatting can be so ungainly and uncontrollable!
But the main reason to change is that under WordPress, my entire website will be under my control: I won't have to hire a Net Guru to change a comma, for example.
That said, there are bound to be glitches and frustrations ahead, so please bear with me!
.
I'm in the process of having all of my website and blogs changed over from Blogger to WordPress. I've been frustrated by Blogger for too long. The formatting can be so ungainly and uncontrollable!
But the main reason to change is that under WordPress, my entire website will be under my control: I won't have to hire a Net Guru to change a comma, for example.
That said, there are bound to be glitches and frustrations ahead, so please bear with me!
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Cheers for the Josephine B. Team
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I'm in that anxious holding pattern now, waiting for The Taskmaster's feedback. (Of course I always assume that he's unhappy with the work.) Not that there isn't a great deal to do:
On learning about Google Lit Trips, I threw out the idea of a Josephine B. Lit Trip to my readers on my Facebook page, and a number of them jumped at the challenge. They would do it! With the help of Jerome Burg, creator of Google Lit Trips, they put together the initial draft of a Lit Trip for The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. It's likely that this is the first time Facebook fans have taken on a collaborative project like this, which I find thrilling.
However, The Taskmaster has been working me so hard, I'd not had a chance to give their work a close look...until now. And it's awesome! (Cheers for the Josephine B. team!)
It's also a little daunting because in some cases I need to try to find specific locations: where Josephine (then Rose) lived when she first came to Paris; the location of her aunt's county home; the church she was first married in. I have notes on my computer—from over 15 years ago!—but they are sketchy. However, in the time since the first Josephine B. was published in 1995, internet research has exploded. I'm amazed by what I'm able to discover now.
For one thing: I learned today that Josephine lived not far from where we stayed last spring in Paris, not far from where my current heroine lived. I had a general idea before, but Net research makes it possible to find out rather quickly the history of her street, its many transformations over time. Net research allows me to find out the exact address of Aunt Désirée's country home in Noisy-le-Grand, which, I confess, is grander than I'd imagined.
It all makes me just a bit dizzy!
*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
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I'm in that anxious holding pattern now, waiting for The Taskmaster's feedback. (Of course I always assume that he's unhappy with the work.) Not that there isn't a great deal to do:
Research, research, research.
Gather and organize my scattered revision notes.
Get back to the Google Lit Trip project for The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B.This last, the Google Lit Trip, is both exciting and exhausting. Google Lit Trips are an exciting educational tool: they allow students to geographically follow the course of a novel they are reading, as well as to explore, on-line, subjects that come up. For example, there's one for The Kite Runner:
On learning about Google Lit Trips, I threw out the idea of a Josephine B. Lit Trip to my readers on my Facebook page, and a number of them jumped at the challenge. They would do it! With the help of Jerome Burg, creator of Google Lit Trips, they put together the initial draft of a Lit Trip for The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. It's likely that this is the first time Facebook fans have taken on a collaborative project like this, which I find thrilling.
However, The Taskmaster has been working me so hard, I'd not had a chance to give their work a close look...until now. And it's awesome! (Cheers for the Josephine B. team!)
It's also a little daunting because in some cases I need to try to find specific locations: where Josephine (then Rose) lived when she first came to Paris; the location of her aunt's county home; the church she was first married in. I have notes on my computer—from over 15 years ago!—but they are sketchy. However, in the time since the first Josephine B. was published in 1995, internet research has exploded. I'm amazed by what I'm able to discover now.
For one thing: I learned today that Josephine lived not far from where we stayed last spring in Paris, not far from where my current heroine lived. I had a general idea before, but Net research makes it possible to find out rather quickly the history of her street, its many transformations over time. Net research allows me to find out the exact address of Aunt Désirée's country home in Noisy-le-Grand, which, I confess, is grander than I'd imagined.
It all makes me just a bit dizzy!
*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Novel hypnosis
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.
I finished reading Room by Emma Donoghue last night. I can't recall a reading experience so intense: I didn't move—literally—for two and a half hours, not until I'd come to the end. And then I stumbled around for a bit, stunned.
The novel is told from the point-of-view of a five-year-old. I've read in an interview that Emma Donoghue studied the language patterns of her own five-year-old child to create the voice for this story. She profoundly succeeds, but what is her true accomplishment, in my view, is her ability to see (or appear to see) from the point-of-view of a child—a child born and raised in captivity.
Room has garnered a bouquet of raves from fine writers, such as this one from Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours:
As a writer, it reinforced, for me, the importance of the imagination, of imaginative penetration into the world of ones characters. The first enchantment must be the author's own.
*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
.
The novel is told from the point-of-view of a five-year-old. I've read in an interview that Emma Donoghue studied the language patterns of her own five-year-old child to create the voice for this story. She profoundly succeeds, but what is her true accomplishment, in my view, is her ability to see (or appear to see) from the point-of-view of a child—a child born and raised in captivity.
Room has garnered a bouquet of raves from fine writers, such as this one from Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours:
"Room is that rarest of entities, an entirely original work of art. I mean it as the highest possible praise when I tell you that I can't compare it to any other book. Suffice to say that it's potent, darkly beautiful, and revelatory."I agree. It is also charming, as well as enchanting.
As a writer, it reinforced, for me, the importance of the imagination, of imaginative penetration into the world of ones characters. The first enchantment must be the author's own.
*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Dress up as a book for Halloween
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.
This quote from L.A. Times blog last year:
.
This quote from L.A. Times blog last year:
Interviewer: Your book "The Handmaid's Tale" has become a seminal feminist work taught in universities all over.
Atwood: You know you've really made it when people start dressing up like that on Halloween.I think a "You know you've really made it when..." blog might be amusing.
On rejection, or fear thereof
.
.
I may have mentioned this article before, but I found a reference to it in my computer files and feel it's worth mention:
.
I may have mentioned this article before, but I found a reference to it in my computer files and feel it's worth mention:
30 famous authors whose works were rejected (repeatedly, and sometimes rudely) by publishers — an article by Michelle Kerns for examiner.com.We all need to remember this.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Laden with fear and doubt
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.
You might have noticed the addition of tabs to this blog. One is for quotes, most often to do with writing. I've just added this one by Philip Roth:
I think a first draft is by nature exciting: so much is possible. But then comes the long, long middle—drafts two, three, four ... . These are so tough: fear and doubt indeed. The last draft is indeed satisfying; the words "the end" must surely be the most beautiful in the language.
On a personal note: we're now in San Miguel de Allende. I'm almost settled in. Soon I'll be getting back to work, laden with fear and doubt.
Sandra Gulland
*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
.
You might have noticed the addition of tabs to this blog. One is for quotes, most often to do with writing. I've just added this one by Philip Roth:
“I find it arduous and un-doable. It’s laden with fear and doubt. It’s never easy—not for me. The ordeal is part of the task, and the satisfaction usually comes at the end. You stood up to it, you endured it! You achieved the unachievable—for you. But the next time out, I find it impossible all over again.” —Philip Roth, as quoted in Vanity Fair, November 2010.(It goes to show what riches await in the magazine stack at the beauty parlour.)
I think a first draft is by nature exciting: so much is possible. But then comes the long, long middle—drafts two, three, four ... . These are so tough: fear and doubt indeed. The last draft is indeed satisfying; the words "the end" must surely be the most beautiful in the language.
On a personal note: we're now in San Miguel de Allende. I'm almost settled in. Soon I'll be getting back to work, laden with fear and doubt.
Sandra Gulland
*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Ask and ye shall find
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.
Doug De La Matter, a reader of this blog, sent me the answer to my question: Who painted the image I pin in front of my computer—an image I find profoundly evocative of the creative process? (See my post below.)
The artist, it turns out, is Evariste Vital Luminais, from Nantes, France (1821-1896), and the name of the painting is "Enervés Jumièges," which refers to an ancient and tragic legend about the sons of Clovis II.
Frankly, I don't really want to know what the painting represents because I've created my own story around it. What I do find quite interesting, however, is the evolution of the work.
The first draft
The first study for the painting is, I've read, of torture. (No! Don't tell me that.)
.
Doug De La Matter, a reader of this blog, sent me the answer to my question: Who painted the image I pin in front of my computer—an image I find profoundly evocative of the creative process? (See my post below.)
The artist, it turns out, is Evariste Vital Luminais, from Nantes, France (1821-1896), and the name of the painting is "Enervés Jumièges," which refers to an ancient and tragic legend about the sons of Clovis II.
Frankly, I don't really want to know what the painting represents because I've created my own story around it. What I do find quite interesting, however, is the evolution of the work.
The first draft
The first study for the painting is, I've read, of torture. (No! Don't tell me that.)
The second draft
Second image shows a boy grieving:
The final
There are two versions of the final. The first, "The Sons of Clovis II," has a hopeless, leaden quality ...
... quite different from the second, which is the one that "speaks" to me. In this one I like the way the man on the left stares into space in such a focussed way. I like to think he's on the edge of waking, thinking ... thinking ... .
For more on these evocative paintings, see this article on Wikipedia. For more on the work of Evariste Vital Luminais, click here.
Thank you, Doug! He revealed that he was able to solve the mystery by posting the image on LinkedIn Questions and within 10 minutes was directed to images on tineye.com. Another person supplied a translation of a Wiki entry. All of which proves how incredible powerful Net research can be.
A note on TinEye.com: this is an amazing search engine. You can upload an image, and it will tell you where else it is on the Net. Artists use it to make sure that their work isn't being used without permission, but I will find it useful, I'm sure, to track down the name and artist of an image.
A note on TinEye.com: this is an amazing search engine. You can upload an image, and it will tell you where else it is on the Net. Artists use it to make sure that their work isn't being used without permission, but I will find it useful, I'm sure, to track down the name and artist of an image.
Sandra Gulland
*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Good-bye Bunker
.
Today is my last day in my northern office—affectionately called The Bunker. I love the office I'll be moving to in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, but my Bunker in rural Ontario, overlooking fields and a maple forest, is my favourite writing space, and it's always hard to leave. Not only is it lovely and cosy and quiet, but this is where my books are, this is the core of my research library.
Your home is where your books are, someone said, and I believe that to be true.
Books everywhere!
Right now, the desk in the photo is covered with stacks of books: books to be considered, books without a place on my shelves. (Another problem, that!) Which books should I take with me? What research books am I going to need in the six months ahead? This is not a question that can be answered easily ... at least not by me.
With so little time left, I'll aim to simply tidy today, leaving post-it notes on all the various piles.
I can't take my bulletin board, alas
On the wall in front of the desk I have a framed print, a bulletin board and a Edward Gorey calendar. The bulletin board has inspiring images and quotes on it: "Want • Obstacle • Action," for example.
Images of creativity
Two of the images on the bulletin board are especially dear to me. One, of men carving up blocks of stone, is evocative of the heavy lifting of the revision process.
The other image is one I haven't been able to identify. (If you can identify it, I'd be eternally grateful!) It's of two people, possibly a man and a woman, floating on a platform on a lake, half-emmersed in water. This image captures, for me, the feeling of the creative process, of immersion in unconscious.
The two images—one evocative of the unconscious, the other of the conscious, I think—work together in any act of creation.
Should I take my Edward Gorey calendar? I've loved it so! No: I'll fast-forward through November and December, and in the Spring, on return, I'll put it in my keeper box. Ironically, I just peeked at the caption for November:
Floating image: unknown to me. If you know, please write.
Sandra Gulland
*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
Today is my last day in my northern office—affectionately called The Bunker. I love the office I'll be moving to in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, but my Bunker in rural Ontario, overlooking fields and a maple forest, is my favourite writing space, and it's always hard to leave. Not only is it lovely and cosy and quiet, but this is where my books are, this is the core of my research library.
Your home is where your books are, someone said, and I believe that to be true.
Right now, the desk in the photo is covered with stacks of books: books to be considered, books without a place on my shelves. (Another problem, that!) Which books should I take with me? What research books am I going to need in the six months ahead? This is not a question that can be answered easily ... at least not by me.
With so little time left, I'll aim to simply tidy today, leaving post-it notes on all the various piles.
I can't take my bulletin board, alas
On the wall in front of the desk I have a framed print, a bulletin board and a Edward Gorey calendar. The bulletin board has inspiring images and quotes on it: "Want • Obstacle • Action," for example.
Images of creativity
Two of the images on the bulletin board are especially dear to me. One, of men carving up blocks of stone, is evocative of the heavy lifting of the revision process.
The other image is one I haven't been able to identify. (If you can identify it, I'd be eternally grateful!) It's of two people, possibly a man and a woman, floating on a platform on a lake, half-emmersed in water. This image captures, for me, the feeling of the creative process, of immersion in unconscious.
The two images—one evocative of the unconscious, the other of the conscious, I think—work together in any act of creation.
Should I take my Edward Gorey calendar? I've loved it so! No: I'll fast-forward through November and December, and in the Spring, on return, I'll put it in my keeper box. Ironically, I just peeked at the caption for November:
It would carry off objects of which it grew fond,
And protect them by dropping them into the pond.Construction image: Granite for monuments (for future monuments), 1939. Lithograph by Louis Lozowick.
Floating image: unknown to me. If you know, please write.
Sandra Gulland
*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
What's holding you back?
.
This article—"What's holding you back?"—was written for academics, but the suggestions are excellent for any writer. For me, achievable daily goals are key: goals I try to meet before allowing the rest of my To Do list to topple me.
*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
This article—"What's holding you back?"—was written for academics, but the suggestions are excellent for any writer. For me, achievable daily goals are key: goals I try to meet before allowing the rest of my To Do list to topple me.
*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
Friday, October 1, 2010
The visual dimension: tips from film-makers
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.
Before I begin my writing day, before my mug of decaf cools, I check my email, Twitter, a few websites. Today this blog by Alexandra Sokoloff on visual storytelling resonated, especially with respect to rewriting.
I am in a slow, difficult crawl through my third draft. This is the draft that (to paraphrase Kingsolver), "brings the meaning up and turns on the lights." I have to fill out the visual dimension—which, for me, requires quite a bit of research.
Read the Alexandra Sokoloff blog. I like her film-making suggestions for thinking in terms of "establishing shots" and "master shots." Approaching a Big Scene is intimidating. I'll see if it helps to mentally put myself behind a camera.
.
Before I begin my writing day, before my mug of decaf cools, I check my email, Twitter, a few websites. Today this blog by Alexandra Sokoloff on visual storytelling resonated, especially with respect to rewriting.
I am in a slow, difficult crawl through my third draft. This is the draft that (to paraphrase Kingsolver), "brings the meaning up and turns on the lights." I have to fill out the visual dimension—which, for me, requires quite a bit of research.
Read the Alexandra Sokoloff blog. I like her film-making suggestions for thinking in terms of "establishing shots" and "master shots." Approaching a Big Scene is intimidating. I'll see if it helps to mentally put myself behind a camera.
*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Joyce Carol Oates on creating character
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.
This is excellent (thank you, DeAnna Cameron):
*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
.
This is excellent (thank you, DeAnna Cameron):
*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
How close are you to your character?
.
.
I'm putting away my notes from the Kingston WritersFest, and I think the one big message I got, in both Joan Thomas's workshop on narrative voice and point-of-view and Michael Winter's on "found fiction," had to do with narrative distance.
Thomas asked: How intimate is your stance with respect to the character?
Winter talked about the importance of changing that space: closing in, backing up, closing in again.
When writing from the 1st person, that distance would seem to be fixed—although the character's degree of self-revelation would vary.
Right now I'm writing from a close 3rd person point-of-view (that is, I'm always with my main character), and I've been wondering how to interpret this concept of narrative distance. Sometimes I show my character focussed on what is going on around her, and at other times, I show her lost in the swirl of her emotions. So, in a way, when writing in the 1st person or close 3rd, the narrative distance is within the character.
This is the type of thing writers love to talk about. Put two writers together for 10 minutes and the subject of point-of-view is sure to come up. At one point in Kingston, I was in a packed elevator—we were strangers, in fact—and from the 5th to the ground floor, the talk was of point-of-view. Writers!
*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
.
I'm putting away my notes from the Kingston WritersFest, and I think the one big message I got, in both Joan Thomas's workshop on narrative voice and point-of-view and Michael Winter's on "found fiction," had to do with narrative distance.
Thomas asked: How intimate is your stance with respect to the character?
Winter talked about the importance of changing that space: closing in, backing up, closing in again.
When writing from the 1st person, that distance would seem to be fixed—although the character's degree of self-revelation would vary.
Right now I'm writing from a close 3rd person point-of-view (that is, I'm always with my main character), and I've been wondering how to interpret this concept of narrative distance. Sometimes I show my character focussed on what is going on around her, and at other times, I show her lost in the swirl of her emotions. So, in a way, when writing in the 1st person or close 3rd, the narrative distance is within the character.
This is the type of thing writers love to talk about. Put two writers together for 10 minutes and the subject of point-of-view is sure to come up. At one point in Kingston, I was in a packed elevator—we were strangers, in fact—and from the 5th to the ground floor, the talk was of point-of-view. Writers!
*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/
Monday, September 27, 2010
Leaving, returning
.
.
Stepping into my writing room this morning after four days away, I wished I had left it tidy. There is hardly room for my mug of decaf midst the festering mounds of post-it notes and scraps.
It's always hard to return to writing after time away. Of course I had intended to write while at the Kingston WritersFest; of course that was impossible!
Later today, after I emerge from my writing room into that vast demanding arena called Life, I intend to gather my learnings and post them here. But now it's time to dive back in...or at least dip in a toe.
Leaving the Festival hotel, a volunteer called out, "We love you, keep writing!" I'm a writer; I should be able to express in some fresh way how moving that was to hear. Instead I'll just say that I'm tempted to print that out in bold and post it to my bulletin board.
Yes, I'll do that, and then I'll put my toe in, check to see how cold the water feels.
.
Stepping into my writing room this morning after four days away, I wished I had left it tidy. There is hardly room for my mug of decaf midst the festering mounds of post-it notes and scraps.
It's always hard to return to writing after time away. Of course I had intended to write while at the Kingston WritersFest; of course that was impossible!
Later today, after I emerge from my writing room into that vast demanding arena called Life, I intend to gather my learnings and post them here. But now it's time to dive back in...or at least dip in a toe.
Leaving the Festival hotel, a volunteer called out, "We love you, keep writing!" I'm a writer; I should be able to express in some fresh way how moving that was to hear. Instead I'll just say that I'm tempted to print that out in bold and post it to my bulletin board.
Yes, I'll do that, and then I'll put my toe in, check to see how cold the water feels.
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